Bad Cable

Dear Ralph:
I have to tell you, I love your magazine! But, that’s not what I want; I have a 1990 Polaris Indy. Every time I go wide open and let off the throttle the cable falls out. Can you help me? Thanks for any advice you can share.
Aaron Legate
Campbellsport, WI

Thank you for the kind words. As for your throttle issues, follow the throttle cable from your handlebars down towards the carbs and you will find what is called a “splitter box”. This is where the single cable that attaches to your throttle up on the handlebars goes into a box and pulls on two cables, one for each carb. Inside this box things must move freely. Most likely is the lubrication (grease) inside of this splitter box is all dried up and the parts aren’t moving freely, so when you let off the throttle the single cable is not moving with the throttle lever and it pops out of the retainer. It’s either this splitter box, or the cable is damaged (kinked or frayed) somewhere that is causing it to not move freely. Heck, it could be corrosion and a lack of lubrication anywhere inside the cable after this many years.
Two options; see if you can disassemble, clean and re-lubricate the internals of the splitter box (use something like a light grease, white lithium) and get it all moving smoothly again, or replace the throttle cable. That’ll run about $70 for the cable, and you’d want to synchronize the carbs and re-time the oil pump if you replace the cable.